On 23 Aug 2017, at 10:10, George george@queair.net wrote:
How this got off into TorBrowser puzzles me. Presumably the goal for clients is to reach them where they are. Certainly providing a diversity of clients is a "good goal" but beyon dreaching more users I fail to see how it helps the network writ large. I suppose indvitual users woudl be mroe secure with a wider array of clients available, but that's generally true of the Windows monculture in desktop computers. And as we shift to Android moblie devices as people primary internet connection many of those issues will likely follow, but I digress...
With TB as a client, I just mentioned the development end in an earlier email. There's certainly more to it.
There are certainly weaknesses in a client monoculture that differs from the network/node side on some levels, as the client software is in some chases the user base.
But it always seem to me users sometimes use the OS that provide the applications they want. TB matters insofar as one of those applications, I tend to think.
On the whole, one needs to consider that the same single vulnerability that weakens an OS on the network level could also affect the desktop.
We love it when people run Tor on all sorts of platforms. It helps us write better software, find obscure bugs, and help more people.
At the moment, the Core Tor and Tor Browser teams are focusing on getting Tor Browser working (better) on Android and iOS, the platforms with the largest web browsing share that don't have an official Tor Browser. We are also improving sandboxing across our existing Windows, Linux, and macOS builds. (And another half-dozen goals. We're busy!)
Personally, I think it's great that the Tor Diversity Project is getting different parts of Tor working on BSDs as well. We appreciate all the testing they do, and the patches they send us.
The Core Tor team also has a list of supported relay platforms.[0] We can't support a platform unless people test our alphas on that platform. We can give better support if people test bug fixes or submit patches when a platform breaks.
This list isn't a value judgement on any platform: it's simply a list of what platforms we are good at supporting, using our current resources. If we can add more volunteer or funded resources, we can support more platforms.
[0]: I think it's a draft. It might be on trac, but trac is down, so I can't find it right now.
T
-- Tim Wilson-Brown (teor)
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